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Leader (1850-1860), 25th April 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8, JIISCELL ANEO US. The Court.—The Queen a...

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      A Murder In The North. Tun Materials For...

      effect of the scene made a profound impression on the court . ] Mv- daughter did not rise till my son John and I raised her , and John said , ' Hector , come and help us ; we cannot raise her ; she is heavy ; ' and the prisoner did corne to help us . When we lifted her , prisoner wished her put into his own bed , hut I refused , and we took-her into my bed in my apartment . John and I carried her there , and I cannot say -whether Hector assisted us or not , but he -was there . We laid her down on her side on my bed . I piit my tongue to h « r throat to feel if she was " breathing , and I took the shawl off her face and her eyes were corning put , as if they -were started out of their sockets - ( sensation ); and I pushed them back with both my bands . I said , ' Dearest of

      -women , if you can speak , and have your senses , do so . It is in your mother ' s two nrtns that you are . ' When I said this , she four times opened and shut her lips with a very slight smack , and I put my ear to her mouth , and she muttered softly * Coup' ( Gaelic , cup ) , and I thought she wanted water . I gave her about half a cupful of water . I put it into her mouth , but I do not think any of it went over , as it ran out of her mouth . About two minutes after this , she pressed the points of her fingers very tightly together , and muttered something like ' My poor children ! ' She appeared to die then , and said no more . I think from the time she was carried ' ben' till the time she died , would be about ten

      minutes . It was daylight at the time she died . The prisoner was then in his own end of the house . I ' said to ray son John , ' Go for my sister , for Jane is dead ;' and prisoner said , 'If you will let me up , I will know whether she is dead or not . ' I said ' How will you know whether she is dead or not better thau I do ? ' and he said , 'I will know ; ' and I said ' Come down , then . ' Prisoner felt her throat , and then he lifted his hands and exclaimed , ' Oh , Vho ! she is dead . I will go into the sea . ' I said , ' You will not not go out into the sea . Yon will remain and take care of your two sons . They require nursing , and I cannot attend to them ; I am too weak ; I require to be nursed myself to-day . "

      M . 'Donald afterwards held the body while the old ¦ wo man ' s sister washed it . lie was very particular about halving one portion of the corpse ( but which part is not known ) carefully washed , and lie desired to have the body buried the next day . In cross-examining the old woman , it was sought to be shown that she had a grudge against her sonin-law because hehacl informed against her for smuggling whisky into the island . The medical evidence of Dr . Wilson confirmed the account given of the death of M'Donald's wife , and showed clearly that it must have resulted from throttling by some person otlier than herself . The jury found the accused Guilty of culpable homicide , and he was sentenced to transportation for life .

      392 The Leader, [No.- Byo, Satttbdat - _...

      392 THE LEADER , [ No .- BYO , Satttbdat - _ . . : ¦—¦—¦—¦ ¦ ¦ ~ - " ~ - " - - '~^~"~ .-- — - _ - * ' * — - ' " ¦ ¦ ——¦ — . — ¦

      Naval And Military. General. Beatson And...

      NAVAL AND MILITARY . General . Beatson and Colonel Shirley . —The quarrel between these officers is again brought forward this week by the publication of the opinion of ( he Court of Inquiry lately assembled , by order of the General Commanding in Chief , to investigate the charges preferred by General Beatson against Colonel Shirley . Those ; charges were to the effect that , during the late Russian war , the Colonel , who had been serving under General Beatson at Shumla , in connexion with the Baslri-Hazouks , had made private inquiries among the officers and others of the corps with , respect to the General , and that he afterwards transmitted to General Vivian statements highly derogatory to General Beatson ' s character as an oflicer , while at the same time he suppressed evidence which was favourable to him . The Court of

      Inquiry are ot opinion that ( here was nothing underhand or secret in the Colonel ' inquiries , though they were privately made ; that he had reasonable cause for making those inquiries , and also for transmitting to General Vivian statements derogatory to General lieatson ' s character as an ollicer ; that ho did not wilfully suppress evidence , and that he acted properly , considering his inferior position , in not prosecuting the inquiry any further . The officers forming the Court think that the evidence c ollected b y Colonel Shirley was not " so precise and full as to warrant his making his statements so

      strongly . They further record their opinion " that there are no grounds whatever to render it necessary to investigate the charges brought by Major-General Beatson against Colonel Shirley by a court-martial " . "—General Beatson haa written to the papers to complain of this ^ W ^ rV 1016 ?* a 6 aLn 8 t th 0 Proceedings of the Court SK & ii i' tO reitcrat 0 >» B assertion that Colonel Shvrley had propagated hearsay scandals against him , fromTSnan ? CM * f ^ trUtU wl » ch ^ o Reived

      p ^ r- ^ rc , ssr *™ - p- ™» Etoamer , while at anchor n the' B ? v offS inCrchttnt her voyage from Valparaiso t o Knama w ^ T ° ' i ° ^ and robbed by the mutinous UrT ^ lwK ? vessel , which had pursued her for two dal * f ™ * T port of Huanchaco . One of the pasaX * Tn b ° ard ho Now Grenada gives an account of this outrage from which it appears that the latter vessel Lad ! eV her

      passengers and part of her freight ashore at Lambayeque ? when one morning about eight o ' clock an officer from the Peruvian ship came on board armed with a cutlass and pistols , and stated to Captaiu Strachan , commander of the 2 few Grenada , that he knew that he ( Captain Strachan ) had In his vessel money and arms belonging to General Castilla , President of Peru , -while at the same time he exhibited a paper apparently corroborative of the truth of what he asserted . He authoritatively ordered the captain to deliver up the property to him . Captain Strachan replied that he would not give the goods up with his own consent , but as his ship was entirely unarmed , he was finable to make any xesistance by force . Upon this , the Peruvian officer ordered the

      crews of four armed launches lying alongside Captain Straclian's vessel to come on board tlie New Grenada , and immediately sixty armed men jumped on deck , and were directed by their commanding ollicer to cut down any of the crew who should go forward . . " The whole affair , " says the writer , " was like a melodrama at a minor theatre . The men were of all colours—blacks , mulattoes , and some few English sailors , who , however , looked cowed and ashamed at their position , as forming a portion of as dirty and villanous a . set of ruffians as could be brought together ; most of them having a drawn cutlass in one hand , and a pistol in the other , apparently eager for some pretext for seizing and sacking the vessel . " The officer again demanded of Captain

      Strachan the delivery of tlie specie or the key of the room , but . - . the latter refused to give any orders , and the Peruvian therefore replied that he would take the command of the vessel on himself , and give his own directions . The door of the cabin in which the specie was lodged was then broken open by means of large chisels and hammers , and 82 , 000 dollars' worth of ' ¦ property was stolen . The robbers afterwards jumped back again into the launches alongside , and sailed away with their booty . Captaiu Strachan has laid a protest before the consul at Payta . The ship by whose commander this robbery was perpetrated had been some vceks previously declared a pirate vessel by the Government of Peru , that country being at present In a state of

      insurrection . The "Wreck of thu Pai-aiuio ;—It is now known that the vessel which was found drifting , dismasted and water-logged , on the coast of Norway , ' with the crew starved to death , is the Palaxmo , of South Shields , belonging to Mr . John Cieugh , and commanded by his son , Mr . " William Cle ' tigh . She left Blemel in" the middle of January . It is supposed that the principal portion of her crew was swept off her . deck in the fearful gale that raged ¦ shortly after she passed Elsinore , and that , the provisions and other stores having been washed out of her along with the roundhouse , the poor fellows found dead on board had perished of cold and hunger . Captain William Cleugh was the last of eleven sons whose death the father has to lament . Several of them , perished at sea . ' ¦ ¦ . '

      Honorary Rkwauds . *— -The Board of Trade have directed that a telescope , bearing a suitable inscription , be presented to Lieut cnant Valence , of the French frigate L'Egerie , and-5 . 0 / . to the petty officers ' and crew , for the assistance rendered to the English barque Ralph Thompson , -whereby the whole of tl » e crew Avere rescued from drowning , after repeated attempts , on three successive days , to board the . sinking vessel . Ih-om the representations of her Britannic Majesty ' s minister at Paris to the Foreign office , the Earl of Clarendon has directed that a sword be presented to Captain Coreil for Iiis exertions and praiseworthj' conduct on this occasion .

      The -WmxwoKTU and Knfiel , i > Rifles . —For the last few days , a very interesting and important series of experiments has been in progress at the Government School of Musketry , Ilythe , in order to test the comparative merits of these two rides . The trial , which was of the most searching and impartial character , was conducted by Colonel Hay , the able head of the school , and has terminated in establishing beyond all doubt the great and decided superiority of Mr . Whitworth ' s invention . The Enfield rifle , which was considered so much better than any other as to justify the formation of a vast Government establishment for its special manufacture , has been completely beaten . Jn accuracy of fire , in penetration , and in range , its rival excels it to a degree which hardly leaves room for comparison . —Times .

      Collision with a . Steamboat , and Loss op Life . — While the Curlew , coast-guard cutter , -was lying at anchor on the flat of the Mouse Sand , off Shccrncss , on Wednesday night , a largo steam-vessel , about one o ' clock in the morning , bore down upon her , cams stem on , and struck her amidships , breaking tlie main , boom- Miohael ITawkings , tlie look-out man , on seeing the vessel approach , called to all hands , wlio wore asleep below , to come on deck as quickly as possible . Ho also shouted

      loudly to warn off the stoamor ; but to no effect . After the collision , ho heard some one on board the steamer say , "_ Why did you not show a light ? " Ilawkings was immediately afterwards thrown into the water , and became entangled in the standing and running rigging of the Curlew ' s topmast , which was carried nway . The stcamvcssel lo wered a boat , which was manned ; the men lay on their oars , and the boat drifted away with the wind and tide , without making « n effort to save the crow ol the Curlew . All , consequently , were drowned , with the

      exception of Hawkings , who was taken fromthe rW ; by another coastguard cutter , the Scout , which w * ying about a quarter of a mile off , and which went t the assistance of her sister vessel . When picked ,, Hawkings was in a very exhausted state , having bPpn in the water about half an hour , and been much bruised by the steam-vessel running over him . Troops fok China . —The sailing troop-ship \ eW having embarked two companies of Royal Artillery I Woolwich for Hong-Kong , left the pier on Thursday morning . The majority were men who had « eiw before Sevastopol . - « vea

      Jiiscell Aneo Us. The Court.—The Queen A...

      JIISCELL ANEO US . The Court . —The Queen and infant Princess continue to progress favourably . The last bulletin was issued on Monday . —The Duchess of Gloucester is in very bad health . She lias been reduced to a state of great feebleness , and , considering her advanced years , apprehen sions are entertained for her life . The latest accounts repre sent her as sinking . To-day ( Saturday ) is her eightvfirst birthday . The latest accounts represeut her as rather better . The Starving Finlasders . —We hear from good authority that upwards of 5501 . has been subscribed by members of the Society of Friends in Bristol toward s the funds for the relief of the starving Finlandtrs . — Bristol Mercury . The Rev . C . Hawkins , vicar of Stillingfleet , and canon residentiary of York , has just died at an advanced a - ' -Lxaxdaff Cathedral has been reopened after a restoration extending over a period of tea years . Mr . Palk , M . P ., on the Comin < i Session . —The Conservative member for South Devon , Mr . Palk , dined with a numerous partyof his father ' s tenantry at Torquay on Friday week , when he believed that it would be necessary in the ensuing session of Parliament to settle ¦ the church-rate question by " a fair and honourable compromise" that should amicably adjust the claims both o £ Dissenters and Churchmen . But there were great difficulties to be encountered , as a law which would suit large towns would not dp for agricultural districts . Mr . Palk also admitted the necessity that exists for Parliamentary reform ; but he did not favour his audience with any idea as to the nature of the reform which he would support . He said , however , that he looked forward to the ensuing session with " apprehension . "

      Death op the Prisius or the Scottish Episcopal Church . —The Right Rev . William Skinner , D . D ., Bishop of the diocese of Aberdeen and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church , died at Aberdeen on Wednesday week , after a few days' illness . He was in his seventy-eighth year . Emigration from the North of Scotland . —The spring fleet has just sailed for Canada from the northeast coast of Scotland , carrying out 1500 passengers . They are chiefly agricultural labourers , and for the most part young and newly married people .

      Fiues . —The building and steam sawmill premises of Mr . Newsora , Westbourne-street , Pimlico , were burnt down on Sunday morning , and eight or nine of the adjoining buildings were greatly damaged . —Tlie premises occupied by Messrs . Goodyear and Co ., straw bonnet manufacturers , in St . Paul ' s Churchyard , were burnt down early on Wednesday morning . Tlie inhabitants escaped with some difficulty . —The printing-ink works of Messrs . Gilton and Co ., Leeds-street , Liverpool , were destroyed by fire on Wednesday . —Some pottery works in Princes-street , Lambeth , were burnt down on the same morning , with the exception of a small portion .

      China . —A religious ceremonial , in honour of the officers and seamen of the Jeanne d'Arc and the Colbert who fell in the deliverance of Shanghai on the 6 tli ol January , I 800 , took place at that city on the 7 th of last February . A grand mas 3 and sermon , at which all the French residents , several of the English residents , and various Vice-consuls , were present , were followed by iv private service at the house of the French Consul . The Rijcent Fall of Brickwork . —The inquiry

      into the circumstances attending the deaths of Morris Fitzgibbon and John Shehan , who were killed by the falling of a wall on Good Friday , was concluded on Friday week . . After a great amount of additional evidence was gone into , the jury returned the following verdict : — " That the deceased came by their deaths by the falling of a wall , some portions of which wore in an unsound state , not visible , yet we arc of opinion that * through au error of judgment , sufficient precaution was not taken to secure the same , "

      The Lun » iiill Colliicuy Explosion . —Mr . Coc , Mr . Maddifion , and other colliery viewers , went down into the pit on the evening of Friday week , and again on Sunday , and waded a considerable distance through the water ; but they wore unable to proceed as far na they wished , owing to the depth of water , and to portions of the roof having fallen in . Early on the following morning , three bodies were discovered , much >« uu " latcd , and in n state of decomposition . The identity 01 two was quite beyond the possibility oven of a guess ; and with respect to the tlurd there were two opinions . The probability appears to bo that tlie body w «« t ' " ° ^ Thomas <* ray ; but Hannah Cutts , who lost a husband and three sons by the explosion , ia of opinion that the

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 25, 1857, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25041857/page/8/